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North Sumatera Province DPD Candidate Faisal Amri through attorney Muhammad Habibi delivering the subjects of petition in the 2019 DPR-DPRD PHPU hearing of North Sumatera Province, Thursday (11/7) in the Panel 1 Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Mantox.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing of the 2019 DPR-DPRD ((House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council)) legislative election results dispute (PHPU) of North Sumatera Province in the Panel I Courtroom of the Constitutional Court on Thursday (11/7/2019). North Sumatera Province DPD Candidate Faisal Amri through attorney Muhammad Habibi conveyed that there had been vote reduction to the Petitioner’s valid vote acquisition and addition to another DPD candidate in South Nias Regency. According to the South Nias Regency General Elections Commission (KPU), the Petitioner received a total of 496,618 votes. However, the Petitioner deemed it inaccurate after a comparison between the vote acquisition of both DPD candidates at the TPS (polling stations) and the recapitulation results in the sub-districts.

“Therefore, in Nias Regency, vote addition and reduction had occurred to DPD candidate No. 23 Badikenita Br. Sitepu, which resulted in the reduction to the Petitioner’s votes,” said Muhammad Habibi, who accompanied the principal Petitioner.

In the case No. 04-02/PHPU.DPD/XVII/2019, Habibi suspected the addition of 932 votes had occurred in the polling stations in 6 sub-districts: Hibala, Huruna, Onohazumba, Teluk Dalam, Simuk, and Luaha Gunde Maniamolo.

The Petitioner then requested in the petitum that the Court declare the accurate results of the 2019 North Sumatera Province DPD election be those according to the Petitioner: 496,624 votes for the Petitioner, 495,828 votes for candidate No. 23 Badikenita Br. Sitepu.

Discrepancy

In the same hearing, the Court also examined petition No. 09-02/PHPU.DPD/XVII/2019 filed by DPD candidate Darmayanti Lubis. Attorney Tegar Yusuf A.N. Putuhena stated that his client found discrepancy of vote results that harmed the Petitioner.

“The comparison of the results is between the copies of C1 forms and the results on the copies of DAA1, DA1, and DB1 forms,” Tegar said before the Court presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman, with Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat and Enny Nurbaningsih on the bench.

The discrepancy of the North Sumatera Province DPD election results, Tegar added, occurred in Langkat, South Labuhan Batu, Labuhan Batu, Madina, Medan, Nias, South Nias, and Karo Regencies.

“Based on that, the Petitioner requested in the petitum that the Court order the Respondent to carry out a recount in the Dapil of Medan Municipality and Langkat,” Tegar concluded.

Before concluding the hearing, Justice Anwar informed that the hearing would continue on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at 08:00 WIB to hear the Respondent’s response and the statements of the Relevant Party and Bawaslu, as well as to validate evidence. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by Yuniar Widiastuti

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